WK: Power of Nature - S3 - Episode 12 - The Quills Have Eyes
by Taismo-89
Summary: Collab with Soul. The brothers still struggle to fully forgive Ventus as the team makes a long needed revisit of Africa, and meet a quill-filled buddy.


"Ah, it's been a while since we've been in Africa," Chris commented. "Good to be back to the continent where we lived some of our greatest adventures."

"Phew, it's not in the line of the equator for nothing," Ven panted, zipping down his collar. Chris and Martin agreed in silence. Both were still a bit upset with him.

The team felt bad about the bros' situation. When will they ever get on good terms again?

"Hey, you guys don't mind that I go for a hike, do you?" David asked with a backpack ready. "I wanna make sure there are no Amelia and her Predators around."

"You really just want to explore the Savannah," Elsa teased. "It's what you've talking about lately."

"S-so what, huh?" David complained. "I like the Savannah. But we can't forget that Operation Thunderdome is still on. Amelia has plenty of access to creatures to turn into mutated beasts, and we gotta stop here, remember?"

"Don't worry, David. I call the Wild Kratt Kids everyday to make sure they're all taking steps on protecting themselves of possible Predator attack," Aviva pointed out. "And _cariño…_ give them some time, okay?" She pointed to the Kratt Bros.

"I don't know, _querida_ … somehow, I feel… like we'll never be as united as before..." Ventus admitted. Aviva felt the intensity of the situation.

"Okay, bye..." David stepped forward, wanting to avoid the negative energy around him.

* * *

David walked a long distance, feeling at rest.

"Nothing like fresh air in a warm habitat that stretches for miles," he commented.

As David sat down, he felt his hand get pricked.

"Ow!" He recoiled and pulled away. A hedgehog walked out from the small bush. "Oh, sorry there. Didn't know you were around." The small creature seemed to stare. "Oh, right. Hold on a minute." He used the power of his medallion to activate that power.

"You young fellers sure do cause mischief in these parts," the spiny creature said. "Never pay attention to where you're sittin'."

"Wow, sorry. Didn't mean to cause harm," David said.

"*sigh* It's fine. You're not the first one to do it. Trust me, once a lion stepped on me."

"Ouch. I feel sorry for that cat."

"Got what's coming to him, if ya ask me."

"Yeah. Oh, my name's David."

"David, hm? I didn't bother about names, I myself don't have one."

"Well, I have a name that loves naming creatures. But since he's not here at the moment, I'll give you one."

"Hmph. Okay. Long as it's not too silly. I am one tough ball of spikes, and would not like to be offended."

"Okay, chill the quills. Speaking of quills, they're sharp as needles. Hey, that could work. Does Needle sound okay?"

"Needle? What's a needle?"

"Come on, I'll show you," David chuckled, carefully picking him up. "Whoa, you don't have quills on the underbelly. Kinda soft, actually."

"That's where we're vulnerable the most. That's why there's quills on our backs," Needle said. "But watch your hands, okay? I'm ticklish."

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Back in the HQ, everyone observed Needle.

"Needle?" Martin questioned. "Really?"

"Got a better idea?" David asked. "At least it's not "Needlemouse"."

"Oh Hermes, no! Definitely not!" His siblings laughed.

"He's so cute," Mina commented.

"Cute? Sorry, young lady, but "cute" ain't a word I go by," the rodent replied.

"A Southern African hedgehog isn't even a mouse at all," Chris informed. "It's considered a rodent, but it has no relation to a mouse. See? Its tail and ears are too small."

"Hedgehogs are no where near related to the rodent family to begin with," Martin added. "They only live in the family, Erinaceidae, shrew like animals with spines on their backs."

"And they curl into a ball when threatened. This, however, is not always enough defense against the powerful claws and hard feet of predatory birds like owls."

"Owls?!" Bites and Needle yelped. The bat went back in his bat box and the hedgehog rolled up. There was a sudden rattling noise.

"Where's that rattling coming from?" Jimmy asked. "I thought you said rattlesnakes don't live in Africa."

"It's just the hedgehog, JZ," Ven chuckled. "Wait, what? He rattles?'"

"Yes, southern african hedgehogs shake their quills as a way of getting out a message," Chris confirmed. "And right now, he's saying, 'Go away! I've got these quills, and I'm not afraid to use them!'"

"That is what I said," Needle said, uncurling. "Can you read minds or something?"

"Well, sort of. It's a long story."

"Guess what, guys? I've got inspiration..." Aviva said. "If I can get a little more info, I can modify the African Crested Porcupine disk to be compatible with hedgehog. They all have quill defense so it won't be a problem to program it."

"Oh, I call it! After all, I found him!" David said excitedly. "And named him." Aviva nodded to him. "Aw, yeah!"

Then, Clarissa saw Needle walking to get some bugs on a pot.

"Hey, no!" Mina stopped him. "That's the bugs I got for my bros for studying." Then, she caught an earthworm from it. "Well, you can have this one. It already had been studied."

"Wow, he's fast for a small guy," Clarissa stated.

"Surprisingly, Southern African Hedgehogs can sprint to 7 kilometers an hour despite how slow they're described to be," Chris informed. Then, he saw Needle eating with ferocity.

"Wow, how long has it been since you ate?"

"I guess… months."

"Wow! Months?!" Jimmy gasped. "I'm going to get more earthworms for him!"

"Meanwhile, you'll like to know that the hedgehog disks are ready!" Aviva warned. "Catch, David!"

"Thanks, Aviva." He took his CPS and held Needle. "Activate Hedgehog powers!" Once fully transformed, he observed the quills on his back. "Groovy. Anyone interested in joining me?" The Kratt Bros lifted their hands.

"Meanwhile, we'll take care of Needle here," Elsa stated.

"I thank you, young lady, but I can pretty much take care of myself," Needle said, a bit of sadness in his severe tone. The team wondered about that.

* * *

David and the Kratt Trio experimented their new Creature Power. David went into ball form, making a passing Jimmy back up a bit.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry, JZ. I'm just really excited about this new power. You know… I guess hedgehogs just entered my favourite creature list."

"After raccoons?" Sam asked.

"A little lower than raccoons, but higher than cheetahs," David answered.

"Is there a nomination for this?" Jimmy wondered.

The Kratt Bros passed by, rolling in their spiny ball form. Then, the younger one stood up, dizzy.

"I wonder if that videogame hedgehog has problems like this..." he said, as he regained his balance. Ventus couldn't help but to giggle.

"Luckily I haven't eaten yet, or else… yuck," Martin assured, as he regained his balance as well.

"Guess we'll just run and test the hedgehog's velocity while exploring."

"I'm with ya, bro." The two hedgehog-powered brothers left to explore the surroundings.

"Hey, wait for me!" Mina called, following them. Then, the bros saw Ventus following them and they… sort of lost it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Chris snapped. Ven came to a stop in confusion.

"I-I was coming along-"

"No way! Every time you set foot off the ship, disaster follows!" Martin shouted in his face. "You just go back in there and do noth-" Then, a group of lions roared at them.

"Uh-oh!" Mina gulped. "Trouble!" The bros turned their backs to see the danger they were into. Ventus, despite his brothers' protests, stepped forward.

"Touch them, and I'll poke your eyes out!" The lions feared the quills, knowing they had to step back. Ventus didn't hesitate to charge at the wildcats with his quills.

"That's one angry hedgehog," Mina commented.

"Would you stop playing hero?!" Chris said in a bit of worry, as the lions finally left.

"What do you mean? You-"

"We don't want you hurting yourself because of us!" Martin shouted. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

"Then, what do you want?! Please just tell me!" Ventus asked, even more confused.

"We don't _want_ to tell you, Ventus! Just leave us alone and think about it for yourself like you've always done!"

"What?" He turned to them. What they saw... just broke them. The look on his face, the tears streaming down, they had never seen him in so much pain before. The Kratt in white ran away, not minding about deactivating. Mina stood in front of the brothers. They shuddered at her angry glare.

"I had enough of this situation! What you just said is completely wrong! Mother told me about Ventus… he NEVER thought about himself once. He always cared about his brothers... his family… the only friends he had… I know he tried to hurt you, but it's just because he doesn't know yet and is scared to lose you!"

Martin and Chris gasped at their hurtful words, as they saw how badly they hurt their own brother. The two sat down under a tree, breathing heavily. Mina stayed by their side.

"Terra… Aqua... is it true?" Chris muttered, seeing that their subconsciences weren't wanting to answer. "Please… Talk to us..." Chris asked, looking at his medallion.

"We need some subconscious advice..." Martin said. The medallions didn't even glow. "Guess we're not the only ones scarred."

" **Uh, hello? Forget about us?"** Ice's voice was heard.

"Wh-what do you guys want?" Martin didn't want to look at his own shadow, which started moving independently. Mina stepped back a bit.

" **If Terra and Aqua doesn't want to say anything… we will, and you'll listen,"** Thorn pointed out.

"... Do we have a choice?" Chris reluctantly agreed.

" **What Mina said is true. Ventus really never thought about himself, he only cared about his family and friends. It's true he really doesn't know anything about us… all he did was obey HER… but I believe it's only because she decreed..."** Thorn fell silent.

"Decreed what?" Chris questioned.

 **"That users of Darkness... are put to death,"** Ice completed Thorn's quote.

"What?!" the two Guardians gasped.

"H-Hermia will go that far?" Martin asked.

" **I fear so.**

 _ **"But we weren't actually trapped in the mirror long ago, you know. We got scared of it, so we retreated deep within them. Ven must've feared she would do something like hurt Terra and Aqua... if he couldn't keep both of us contained."**_

The brothers' hearts ached even more. Ventus… all that time, was just, even in the wrong way, trying to help them.

" **But look, despite all that happened, we don't hate him, neither her… and neither should you,"** Ice said.

" **We just… feel upset that neither him or her know better… or if they even worry about knowing better..."** Thorn completed. " **But you know… I really hope you both can help them understand."**

The bros turned to their shadows, with small smiles. The shadows smiled back, becoming normal shadows a while after that.

"Guys..." Mina wiped some tears of regret for arguing with them. "I'm… I'm..."

"Don't be sorry. You were right about that scolding." Chris wiped her tears. "Guess we have a problem of our own to solve here." The two of them stood up to return with their heads low to the Tortuga.

* * *

"Dude, I wonder how YOU don't get dirty in your ball form," David said to Needle, as he cleaned up the dust from his quills before deactivating.

"You know, unlike what you and those two did, we don't usually roll. We stay in one place so our undersides aren't exposed."

"Oh… okay. But it is pretty fun, you know." Needle managed to chuckled a little, but returned to his thoughts.

As the brothers arrived, the team wondered about the situation.

"Wow… what happened to them?" Koki asked.

"They don't wanna talk about it..." Mina warned. "And I guess neither do I."

"Wow… they look worse than Needle here," Elsa said. "Even more gloomy like."

"Wait. Needle is feeling gloomy?" Martin's attention was caught. "What's up, buddy?"

"I was… just thinking about my family..." Needle confessed. "My two daughters and mate…

 _"I remember that we went one day to search for food… and it was all calm. No predators, no one trying to bite us… until we heard a strange noise._

 _"A human-made vehicle passed by… and my mate knocked me and my daughters off the way… she got hit… and didn't survive._

 _"Living only with my little girls, I needed to protect them at all cost. We lived for a while in peace, until we got separated. It all went so quick… a stampede of rhinos… I didn't even know that was possible! When the dust cleaned up, they were gone. They disappeared._ "

"Stampede of rhinos..." Chris recognized that. "*gasp* Let the Rhinos Roll adventure!"

"Wow… since THAT day, you have not seen them anymore?" Martin asked.

"Yes..." Needle looked down. "They were so little… Now I don't have anyone by my side..."

"Wow… you're pretty tough, but you DO have a soft spot," David commented.

"You would feel this way if your sister was taken away from you, wouldn't you?"

"Touché."

"At least your kind is no where near threatened," Martin pointed out. "They're still a huge population of them in Africa so they're considered least concerned."

"That doesn't make me feel better," Needle said. "Still, I appreciate you trying to help me."

"We love helping creatures of all kind," David said. "That's just how we are."

"Well, I am glad to hear there are people CARING for someone like me."

This last quote made the bros gulp in sadness and nervousness.

"It was that thing with VK, right?" Jimmy guessed. Mina stared in surprise. "What? We all can agree that the situation between the three was unbearable. But if they're brothers… I think they should leave all these weights behind and move forward." Then, the team heard the brothers leave the HQ. "Was it something I said?"

"You think?" Mina said.

" **Wow! I found two hedgehogs on my scanner,"** M.A.T.I informed. " **Not too far away either. And according to the genealogy scan… they're related to Needle!"**

"My family… " Needle whispered in hope.

"Only one way to find out." David once again picked up the shrew like creature.

* * *

As the group went to search for the hedgehogs, the bros looked around for Ven.

"When it's not the girls to tell us off, it's Jimmy who makes us feel terrible," Martin pouted, wiping tears from his eyes.

"But we needed that, bro. We WERE horrible to him," Chris admitted.

"But do you think he'll ever forgive us?"

"I don't know..." Chris signaled the Tortuga A.I. on his Creaturepod. "M.A.T.I., has... Ventus ever come back?"

 **"No. He wouldn't respond to his Creaturepod either. Guess he simply turned it off. Sorry."**

The brothers sighed.

"It's all my fault. I was the one that first threatened him," Martin said.

"No, it's my fault. My threat was worse than yours."

"How can you prove that?"

"I made him go away! You simply shocked him!"

" **STOP!"** M.A.T.I interrupted them. The connection was still up. " **This is not going to help! If you're so regretful, do what Jimmy said: Leave all that weight behind and move forward!"**

The brothers took a deep breath.

"She's right. What matters now is finding Ventus," Chris decided. Martin agreed, and they both set off. "I just hope the team are having more luck than us..."

* * *

David and the team followed the coordinates.

"We're very close to the location now!" he informed. Then, the team saw an aardvark hole on the ground. "Here we are."

"Not a surprise for us. In the Aardvark Town adventure, we've seen many creatures that live in abandoned aardvark homes."

"Hey, there's something white under those lines of bushes," Clarissa noticed. The Kratt in white was in ball form under the brush of bushes.

"Ventus?" David called.

"Go away… Leave this terrible person alone..."

"Terrible? You?" Aviva asked. " _Cariño_ , what did those two tell you?"

"Don't blame them, Aviva!" Mina intervened. "Guys, I'll lead with him. You go check the hedgehogs you found." David and Elsa agreed, taking Needle with them.

"She's right. It's all my fault… now leave me here, alone," he said, with a hint of anger, his quills shaking.

"No, Ventus! It's NOT your fault!" Mina took a deep breath to answer him. "They were pretty stern with you these past few days, I know, but it doesn't mean that's the end of your partnership forever." She knelt to try talking to him. "I've been with them for a long time, and for all that time, I can guarantee that they don't always mean what they say when they're mad." Ventus looked over his shoulder. "They know that you're not that mean person they said you are. You also did say some mean stuff when you went all berserk in those past incidents with you-know-who, right?"

"... Yes?"

"You were angry with your emotions flowing high. Most times, this just happens and we pretty much don't have control over it. Trust me, I know." Mina looked over to Aviva. "Look, the point is that they love you, and it's not a silly scold that'll change this, okay?" Ven's quills stopped shaking.

"What have you been eating? Your brain's bigger than your body," Jimmy commented, impressed. Koki bumped his chest with her elbow.

"It's them! It's them!" Elsa called. "The hedgehogs ARE Needle's family!" Her head popped out of the hole and Needle and two young hedgehogs were on top of it. "Although they look a little older for hedgehog pups. Or is it kits or piglets?" The older members chuckled.

"Considering they were separated by a long-time occurred event, no wonder they're older now," Koki thought.

"Oh, no," Mina gasped, as she looked around. "Those troublemaker lions are back!" She saw the creatures looking around. "And they're might be looking for something."

The hedgehogs shivered in fear.

"Not something… someone!" Elsa got the message.

" **Elsa may be right. I've scanned the area around here, and there is a bunch of lion fur in it. Apparently, those two have been trying to catch them for a long time,"** M.A.T.I. warned.

"Lions do eat us!" Needle shouted in fear. "They know they're not supposed to mess with quills, but they just never give up!" This called Ventus's attention. The lions then saw the team and the hedgehogs.

"Oh, no!" Elsa gasped. Mina covered her eyes in fear.

"Oh no you don't!" Two balls of green and blue came rolling at the lions.

"Martin! Chris!" Mina smiled about seeing them.

"M.A.T.I. told us you were in trouble, and you found Ventus!" Chris said.

"Okay, you two! These are hedgehogs you are not going to catch! Go away!" Martin yelled at the wildcats. The lions growled at them. Ventus, seeing the whole situation, knew that he needed to do something.

But… he also thought about staying out, thinking they will lash out at him again. Then, again… Mina was right… they loved him no matter what... and so did he! But as soon as he got up, Martin stopped him.

"No… This time, we're protecting… It's the least we can do for someone that cared so much for us..." he said, with a smile. Ventus smiled back, with tears in his eyes.

Chris rolled over in spiny ball form at the major predators of the savannah. Martin followed in a few seconds. The lions continued to back up from the fast, spiky balls. The lions eventually retreated, wounded by the quills. The team celebrated the victory.

"Sorry, you predators, but these quills have eyes! Eyes to watch you two and Needle's family," Martin said. Aviva placed a special magnetic tag on Needle.

"Even though you're not threatened, we must take care of you," she proclaimed.

* * *

"Well, looks like Needle won't be feeling lonely anymore," David said. "He has someone to care for."

"And so do us," Chris said, smiling as he finally saw Ventus. "Guess it's time to end this story once and for all." Needle and David agreed. The two approached their hedgehog powered brother.

He then looked at his brothers, who felt unsure to say anything. Then, he suddenly hugged them both. This, for the three of them, meant more than words.

"Is it just me or are our adventures getting too emotional this s-" Koki covered her boyfriend's mouth.

"I think you've talked too much for today," Koki alerted.

 _David (voice-over): Needle did teach us the hedgehog's amazing abilities, but one particular thing he re-taught the Kratt Bros is that sometimes you need to accept people as they are, especially if you love them. It may take a while for the bros to FULLY forgive Ventus, I know, but for now… having the three of them close again is more than enough._

"Let's… never have something like this happen again…" Chris asked Ventus.

"I sure hope so, bro. I sure hope so," Ventus sighed. Unknown to them, Martin and Chris's shadows smiled at them.


End file.
